In an aircraft, a rudder bar is a mechanical device by means of which the pilot and co-pilot can control the rudder and the wheel brakes.
The rudder bar comprises pedals and an arrangement of moving parts which, depending on the type of movements applied to the pedals by the pilot or pilots, control the rudder or the brakes of the aircraft.
The rudder bars used in aircraft are principally, in airliners, rudder bars integrated into the floor of the cockpit and even passing through the floor. The rudder bar is said to be laid as it rests on the floor of the cockpit.
Attachment of the rudder bar and transmission of the commands from the rudder bar to the rudder and/or the brakes take place beneath the floor of the cockpit. This architecture is the result of a choice of communicating, in the case of a rudder bar that is mechanically connected to the elements to be controlled (in particular the rudder), via the underfloor region (connections by means of rods, rotary selectors and cables), which is more easily effected in an aircraft.
For operation, the rudder bar must comprise a great number of parts (articulations, rods, pivots, etc.).
A conventional rudder bar of this type, due in particular to this large number of parts, is complex and is not optimal particularly in terms of volume, mass and cost.
Therefore, this conventional solution is not entirely satisfactory.